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Nothing really jumps off the page with a quick glance at the box score of the Celtics’ total eclipse of the Suns. The team shot just 40% from the field, including a dismal 13-of-47 from beyond the arc. They shot just nine free throws, with Payton Pritchard making all four of his trips after hitting just two of his 13 shots on the night.
And yet, the 97-81 win might be one of their most impressive and definitive victories of the season.
Disregard the fact that Jaylen Brown (and obviously, Jayson Tatum) didn’t play. They weren’t around three weeks ago when the Celtics grounded the Rockets in Houston either.
No, what the Celtics did to the Suns on Tuesday night has become their calling card throughout the entire season. If you were to boil down Boston’s approach, head coach Joe Mazzulla will tell you that it’s all about winning the margins, particularly limiting turnovers, generating more possessions with offensive rebounding, getting up threes, and defending like hell.
The latter two have always been staples of Mazzulla ball. In his first two seasons at the helm including the championship year in 2024, the Celtics were top-2 in defensive rating and three-point field goal attempts. Boston, with its star-studded roster, could bury teams with math.
This year, with several newcomers and young players, further refined the formula to include offensive rebounding and taking care of the ball.
“We just have to fight for perspective,” Mazzulla said after the team was down 26-21 despite winning the offensive rebounding battle, taking several open 3s, and turning the ball over just once. “We need to do a better job on the defensive glass, but we ended up getting more shots than they did and the shots finally came, but credit to the guys. Even when we’re not shooting well, we’re still defending. We gotta keep that up.”
At the buzzer, Boston ended up taking sixteen more field goals because of 22 offensive rebounds. At one point in the third quarter, they were up 28 points.
It may seem like an elementary basketball theory — take care of the ball, maximize your shots by taking threes, and get more shots off the glass — but it’s a novel approach in recent history. The Thunder were #1 in turnovers and defense, but didn’t hit the offensive glass as much and weren’t a prolific three-point shooting team. The Nuggets of three seasons ago ranked 20th in turnovers, 25th in 3FAs, 15th in defensive efficiency, and 12th in offensive rebounding percentage.
There are many ways to skin a cat and raise a banner for sure, but the Celtics this season might have the most unique technique. Considering they average the fewest possessions per game with a 95.55 pace, Mazzulla is betting that Boston will be more disciplined and more consistent in what is in effect a shorter game. The 81 points that the Suns mustered against the Celtics was their second lowest point total of the year. More so, it’s the fifth time in February that Boston has held a team under 100. They haven’t the lowest scoring defense in the league at 107.6 points per game and the lowest defensive efficiency in the month of February.